FOCUS: House candidates sound off on transportation

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today, The Herald News begins a series of questions and answers from the candidates for the 6th Bristol Representative District seat special election. Questions posed by the newspaper and the unedited responses from the candidates will appear in the Focus section in the weeks leading up to the special election.

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

Writer

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 20, 2013 at 8:15 PM

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 20, 2013 at 8:15 PM

FALL RIVER

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Today, The Herald News begins a series of questions and answers from the candidates for the 6th Bristol Representative District seat special election. Questions posed by the newspaper and the unedited responses from the candidates will appear in the Focus section in the weeks leading up to the special election.

David Dennis, Carole Fiola, Bradford Kilby and Gerry Potvin are vying for the Democratic nomination in the Aug. 13 primary. Republican David Steinhof, who does not have a primary, will face the winner of the Democratic Primary in the Sept. 10 general election.

Transportation funding has been a hot topic on Beacon Hill during the most recent legislative session with Gov. Deval Patrick, House and Senate leadership having offered various proposals to pour hundreds of millions into infrastructure. What type of a financial commitment do you feel the state should make to maintain and improve the commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure and how should funds be raised to cover those costs?

David Dennis

As Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, the issues this question brings up are one I feel a great deal of passion for. Since long before this campaign began I have trumpeted one point over all others; transportation is directly linked to economic development. There is an actual cost to local economy when we do nothing to address our struggling transportation system. Over the last several years I have developed strong relationships with MassDOT as well as SRPEDD and have worked with many experts in this field to better understand how we can fix our roads and our economy in one stroke of a brush.

It is true that any taxpayer money that goes into fixing crumbling bridges, repairing and upgrading highways, and bringing in new methods of transportation for the South Coast will ultimately make its way back to the pockets of those same taxpayers. That being said, as your Representative I will make it my priority to not only remedy deficient infrastructure, but do so with the lowest possibly impact on the taxpayers. There is a joint bill authored by the Senate and House on the Governor’s desk right now allocating $800 million for transportation, and I believe that bill is just the jolt of initiative our infrastructure needs to revitalize the economy.

Carole Fiola

In January, the Patrick Administration released a ten year, $19 billion dollar transportation plan which included $1.8 billion for SouthCoast Rail and $3.4 billion in Chapter 90 funding to help cities and towns fund local road and bridge projects. The Governor proposed both a gas tax and an income tax increase to help generate the revenue necessary for his proposal.

The House and Senate rejected this proposal and offered a scaled down, five year $2.3 billion plan which would be funded through tax increases to cigarettes, gas and new taxes on business technologies. The plan would generate an estimated $500 million in new revenue and improve regional transit authorities and move MassDot employees off the capital budget.

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While most of the “veto proof” House and Senate transportation funding will pay for the MBTA and other Boston area projects, I believe it could be further strengthened by specifically earmarking a portion of the new revenue generated to either SouthCoast Rail and/or other important transportation projects in the Fall River/Assonet region.

I agree that the re-establishment of rail from Fall River to Boston is important, and a game changer for our region. The project, however, has yet to be permitted and runs the risk of litigation by those opposed and price escalation as the project continues to be delayed.

It may be time to initiate other transportation projects such as the widening of Rt 24 to three lanes from 495 south to Fall River, the establishment of an HOV lane along Rt 24 to the 128 split and fund the estimated $40 million to create the new waterfront boulevard along the waterfront.

Bradford Kilby

I believe that the Legislature passed a package that while not offering as much funding for transportation as the Governor had requested seems to be a good compromise. It still provides for a significant investment in well needed transportation infrastructure throughout the state while not imposing some of the burdens upon taxpayers that the Governor had sought, such as new or increased tolls.

It is my view, that this financial commitment that was passed by the Legislature in order to maintain and improve the Commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure makes the most sense. I support the way that the legislation raises revenue within the bill in order to cover the costs related to maintaining and improving infrastructure.

The current bill would direct as much as $805 million in new spending to the state’s aging transportation system by 2018. I do not support the Governor’s proposal which would trigger an automatic gas tax increase in 2017. While I understand that the Massachusetts Turnpike tolls are scheduled to come down in 2017 I don’t support shifting this burden to the residents of the Sixth Bristol District.

Gerry Potvin

Transportation infrastructure is essential for commuters and businesses. Improving our streets, highways and other modes of transport so that they are in good working order is crucial for improving our economy and ensuring public safety. In my 25 years of working at the Mass Department of Transportation, this is an area I am adamantly familiar with.

With that said, I have a couple of ideas. I am a firm believer that southeastern Massachusetts needs transportation access to Boston.

After years of our citizens paying taxes to fund the Big Dig, MBTA, Mass Turnpike and rail service from Boston to Providence, I think it’s time that those taxes be used to help the people of Fall River, New Bedford and other local communities with better transportation. The south coast rail extension, that has been proposed by several legislators, for several years, needs to be brought to our community and our people.

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I also support the current recommendations by the Governor regarding the gas tax and improvements to the highway tolling systems to name just a few. First, the gas tax is a use tax; if you don’t use is it, you won’t pay the extra amount.

However, these initiatives will help bring in approximately $500 million in income and savings, improve commutes with less congestion, and improve air quality and pollution.

While I agree with some of the proposals in the FY 2014 budget, I have one major contention. Most, with the exception of the south coast rail, of the proposals are for improvements to transportation infrastructures outside of southeastern Massachusetts. I am all for us paying our fair share of taxes, but I also think it’s time for our citizen’s to get their fair share of the taxes put into their streets, highways and rail systems.

David Steinhof

Transportation is a core government function and we are facing challenging problems with transportation funding in Massachusetts. The citizens of the 6th Bristol District deserve a system that functions at the highest level of efficiency and by the targeted use of surplus revenue and meaningful cost-saving reforms, we can provide the type of transportation system that our citizens have come to expect.

The Speaker of the House, the Senate President, and the Governor are raising taxes to fund our transportation needs and it is simply not necessary. Current revenue collection has been strong and the massive $500-$800 million dollar tax increase coming will immediately have devastating impacts on taxpayers and businesses across the state. By increasing taxes on gas, cigarettes, and adding a new software tax, Beacon Hill has chosen to stifle business growth and further financially burden our citizens. This will be the third major tax increase since Governor Patrick was sworn into office. This tax increase is the by-product of one-party rule in the Commonwealth, and the way to change the direction of this decision making is to do something different and elect me as your state representative.

I support the alternative plan offered by House Republicans which addressed the Commonwealth’s $500,000 million transportation finance dilemma without raising taxes. The plan dedicated a substantial portion of our current revenue surplus to be allocated solely to transportation needs. Additionally, the proposal will create a new budgetary benchmark to maintain the revenue stream.

But we can do even more. Reform of our transportation budgets must take place and we must think differently within our state government. For example, SIBs (State Infrastructure Banks) that have been successful in other states by encouraging private and public sector collaboration and requiring a truly competitive bid process could save millions of dollars each year.